


Changing the Narrative

by Irrealis



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bickering, Chirping, First Time, M/M, Omega/Omega, Pittsburgh Penguins, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-23 07:47:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11985390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irrealis/pseuds/Irrealis
Summary: Nobody said omegas didn't belong in the NHL anymore. They said "He doesn't have an athlete's body type", or "He doesn't have the right attitude", or "He doesn't work hard enough".(New in Chapter 2: September 2017 timestamp, AKA Phil Kessel's new hairdo.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Content advisory: Anti-omega sentiment, references to heat (no on-screen heat). 
> 
> Inspired by the July Pens Monthly character of "Phil Kessel", the May trope of "Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics", and certain discussions in chat about Phil and Geno.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set after Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final 2017, in which [Phil and Geno let off a little steam](http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2017/05/16/phil-kessel-evgeni-malkin-argument-penguins-senators-game-3/stories/201705150169) (before scoring in the 3rd to win it).
> 
> Opinions on the media are the characters', not my own.

Nobody said omegas didn't belong in the NHL anymore. Gretzky ended that debate three decades ago. They said "He doesn't have an athlete's body type", or "He doesn't have the right attitude", or "He doesn't work hard enough". 

The Penguins PR team were more careful about the narrative than Toronto had been. They wanted to work with Phil, give him the tools he needed to let the world see the person he really was. And it worked, better than he'd ever thought it could. 

They weren't very happy with him after Game 2 of the Ottawa series, but Phil wasn't very happy with himself, so they were even there. 

They won the game, he smiled and brushed it off in front of the cameras, and the media went home and wrote about how different that public argument would have looked if they hadn't then scored and won the game. He'd gotten lucky, and he knew it. 

Conor pulled him aside before they left the arena, biting his lip. He smelled anxious, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "You and G are okay, right?" 

"Yeah," he said, confident in that although he and Geno hadn't had the chance to talk it out off the ice yet. "Just, you know, the fucking Sens, man." 

"They're the worst," agreed Conor, with a relieved smile. 

"It's only a story because they had the cameras on us," he pointed out. "You know what it's like, we're always like that." 

"I guess so," said Conor. He shrugged. "At least it's a change from the usual omega solidarity stuff. They want us to be all sweetness and light all the time." 

Phil and Geno were good for each other, they played well together, and Phil loved that he could let his frustration out and Geno would snap back, make an argument out of it instead of talking him down or laughing him off. He'd never had an omega line-mate before, and he'd never thought it could be like this. 

"Are _you_ okay?" he asked, taking a closer look at Conor. 

Conor shrugged again. "I will be," he said. It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Phil. 

Phil couldn't wait for the articles claiming Conor's on-ice struggles were a result of Geno and Phil being bad mentors. He patted Conor on the back. "Don't think about it too hard. It'll come back." 

At the airport the next morning, amidst a cloud of chirping about their blood feud, Geno slung his arm around Phil's shoulders, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'm get Phil nice goal," he said to the team at large. "We still friends." 

Phil needed to shrug him off, it was what the team expected, but it took him a moment to remember how. Geno was very warm. He ducked under Geno's arm and out. "Thanks, G. C'mon, guys." 

"I don't even care if you hate each other, just keep scoring," said Bones, to a chorus of cheers. 

\-- 

The story went away, except for the speculative blog articles about trouble in the Penguins room, how conflict between the omegas in a family group disrupted the coherence of the group and a team needs a strong alpha presence to keep everything steady. 

Phil had to stop reading the internet. Sid caught him at it once, plopping down next to him on the plane when Hags was in the bathroom and unapologetically looking over his shoulder. Sid reached over and turned off Phil's tablet before Phil even realized what had happened. 

"Hey! I was reading that." 

"I know," said Sid. "That's why I turned it off." 

Geno popped up over the back of the seat in front, frowning at Sid. "You bugging my winger, Sid?" 

"I'm saving him from himself," said Sid. "That stuff is all crap, Phil, we don't need a stronger alpha voice in the room, we need a healthy defense corps. We're not getting shut down at net because I'm a fucking beta." 

Phil laughed, a little too loud in the quiet of the plane. "Thanks, Sid." He punched him in the shoulder gently. 

Geno looked between them, uncertainty rising for a second. Phil glanced at Sid, but he was already climbing out of the seat, patting Phil on the shoulder as he left. 

"You're reading press?" asked Geno suspiciously. "Sid right. Bad plan. We prove we're best on ice, not on internet." 

"Yeah? You gonna get me another goal tonight, G?" 

"Maybe you get me goal," said Geno. He smirked. "Stop be selfish with puck." 

He looked so proud of himself for the chirp that Phil found himself laughing out loud again, long and hard until Flower politely told him to shut up. Geno just beamed. 

\-- 

As the season stretched into June, Phil felt the shift in more ways than one. His body felt the weather warming and the sunlight changing and wanted him to heat, wanted any resulting child to be born in spring when food was plentiful and they could be strong before the next winter hit. He wondered if he needed to talk to the trainers about adjusting his hormone levels. 

Articles started surfacing, as they did every year, wondering if it was healthy for omega athletes to delay their heats for so long. The NHL season shouldn't be so long, they said. 

Usually he rolled his eyes and moved on, but right then he almost agreed with them. He closed his eyes and dropped back into his seat. The team bus was rumbling away beneath him, on their way to... he didn't even know if it was a hotel or a flight. 

Geno had claimed the seat next to Phil earlier and then proceeded to ignore him in favor of playing with his phone. His thigh was touching Phil's, just slightly, enough that Phil couldn't forget his presence there. 

Geno nudged Phil in the side. "You okay? Seem annoyed." 

"Yeah. Just... ready to get some rest." 

Geno snorted. "You think season is long now? You're not even play World Cup. More important things to do." 

Phil rolled his eyes. But the World Cup was still a bitter subject for Geno, so he was touched in spite of himself that Geno felt comfortable enough to joke about it. "Yeah, yeah. You're the second hardest worker on the team." 

"Second?!" Geno protested. Phil waited him out until he conceded the point and muttered, "At least _I_ know how have fun." 

"Yeah?" said Phil. He looked down at Geno's phone. "Candy Crush is fun now?" 

"Most fun," said Geno, glaring at him. 

Phil laughed and elbowed him back. "Sure, G. I'll take your word for it." 

\-- 

They won the Cup, again. It felt less like a dream this time, the spoils of two long seasons weighing him down with aches and pains, letting him know how much he'd worked to get there. He loved every second of it. 

After the parade, after three solid days of partying, he lay back in his bed and slept for twelve hours straight. 

He was woken, finally, by his phone blaring on his nightstand. 

He squinted at the screen. "Geno?" he said, answering it on speaker and rolling onto his back, spread-eagled. 

"Hi Phil," said Geno. His voice sounded about as hoarse as Phil's did. "You awake?" 

"Sort of," he said. He rubbed his eyes and tried to remember if anything had happened in the blur of the last three days. All he remembered was endless streams of champagne, a lot of hugging and high-fives, and a wide variety of booze. Geno's hands on his waist, his face, maybe. They'd all been very drunk. "Everything okay?" 

"Was wondering about heat," said Geno, after a short pause. "You staying in Pittsburgh? Going to Wisconsin?" 

Phil blinked, wondered if he'd heard right. "Um, yeah, it has to be soon, I guess. I hadn't made plans. Are you... I figured you're going back to Russia for it, right?" 

"Maybe," said Geno. "No one in Russia. Could stay here." Silence fell for a moment. Phil had always hated talking on the phone. "Thought maybe team alpha ask you, always plenty of offers." 

"What? No," said Phil. "I don't—" He cut himself off. Admitting you didn't like alphas wasn't a thing you did. Not out loud. 

But Geno was the one who'd called him up out of the blue to talk about heats, so he deserved what he got. 

"I wouldn't sleep with an alpha teammate," Phil said, at last. Plenty of them did. Conor probably would, very soon now. "I usually find someone back home. Um. Not an alpha." He had omega friends from college, although last year they'd all already had their heats by the time he made it back. Maybe he should have scheduled something this year. 

"Could come to my place," said Geno, after another awkward silence. 

Phil stopped, rewound the conversation in his head, and felt like he'd been missing a separate, entirely different conversation going on around him for the entire playoffs, perhaps longer. "You mean... just for heat? Because you don't have anybody else?" 

"No," said Geno. He sounded miserable. "Want you, if you want also." 

"Yeah," said Phil. He shivered. "I want. I mean, I want you. Not just for heat." 

Geno exhaled over the phone. "Wasn't sure. You very hard to read." 

"Oh, come on, you're the one—" 

"I'm easy one to read! Even Sid notice. Tell me need to stop being jealous when he talk to you. And he beta!" 

"Well," said Phil. Sid, really? 

"Think you flirt, then I think maybe just chirping. Locker room prank. Never sure." 

Of _course_ Geno would think teasing was flirting. And here Phil had been, leading him on without even knowing it. But now he was letting himself think about it, it filled him with embarrassing, giddy anticipation. 

"I want you," said Phil, again, because it was true, and it felt good to say it. "A lot." 

"Good," said Geno. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geno got really hopeful after [the chair incident](https://twitter.com/PKessel81/status/849990419496742915), but was crushed when [his response](https://twitter.com/malkin71_/status/850420489579360256) didn't get him Phil in his bed.
> 
> [Here are some of the things Phil is trying to remember about their post-win celebrations.](http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2017/06/13/Phil-Kessel-Evgeni-Malkin-friendship-Penguins-Stanley-Cup/stories/201706130119.)
> 
> With many thanks to S and J for their wonderful cheerleading and editing suggestions.


	2. September 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In recent Penguins media developments, Phil thinks that [questions about his hair are stupid](https://twitter.com/JMackeyPG/status/908713895275171841), but Geno is more than happy to [say that he thinks it looks amazing](https://twitter.com/JMackeyPG/status/909079105517342720). So I had to write a little timestamp about that.
> 
> Warning for canon-typical use of "stupid". Also, this is excessively sappy and I'm not sorry.

"Seriously?" said Phil. "It was a stupid question. You didn't need to answer it."

Geno set his lip in a stubborn pout. "Is truth. Amazing hair, Phil. Very handsome." His hands twitched, like he was thinking of running his fingers through Phil's hair, but he set them firmly in his lap.

Phil rubbed his forehead. He wanted to say something back about Geno's hair, get back to their teasing flirtation from last season, but he suspected Geno was secretly a bit sensitive about it.

"Have to say lots more before anyone really think more than just teammates, Phil," said Geno.

"Yeah," said Phil. "I know. I wasn't worried about that." He closed his eyes and sunk into the recliner, hoping he wasn't going to fall asleep. Training camp was always hard to get back to. He'd been a little concerned that the change in their relationship wouldn't translate well to the ice, but so far they were clicking as well as ever. 

"I'm sorry," said Geno, suddenly. "I'm always get little bit... too much, in start of relationship. Lots of feelings, hard to keep in."

"Oh," said Phil. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "But you don't need to tell the Post-Gazette. You could just... tell me."

Geno looked at him skeptically. "Want sappy texts, all hours of day?"

It sounded... It sounded really embarrassing, but also... nice. "I don't think I'd mind, from you."

That earned him a kiss and a lap full of 200 pounds of hockey player. He heard the recliner creak ominously, but it was Geno's recliner so that wasn't Phil's problem. He could just focus on the kissing.

Geno nuzzled his neck, breathing in deeply. "You smell happy," he declared, satisfied with his work.

"It's going to be a good season," said Phil. "I can feel it."

Geno frowned. "Sid make me fine you if he hear."

"So don't tell him," said Phil.

Then Geno did bury his hands in Phil's hair, tickling his scalp and pulling just enough that it made Phil shiver. 

"Maybe I'll keep the hair," said Phil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't intend this to be a multi-parter, but if they don't stop doing this I may end up writing additional chapters/ficlets as the season goes along.


End file.
